New online resources for the main estimates it could take time to rebuild 401 (k) Account Balance

Thursday, Jul 02,2009, 10:50:06 AM Click:

DES MOINES, Iowa - (BUSINESS WIRE) - A large number of participants in May to ask: how long can it take for the reconstruction of 401 (k) balances after the bear market in 2008? A new resource of the Principal Financial Group estimated how long it might take for the reconstruction of 401 (k) account balances at January 2008 levels.

The estimator for the reconstruction of retirement is based on analysis by the non-Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) of more than 21 million 401 (k) participants. The study provides an estimate of how long it might take to get retirement savings at 1 January 2008, based on estimates of account balances on December 31, 2008.

"Participants in 401 (k) are eager to get an idea of how long it might take to rebuild the retirement accounts," said Luc Vandermillen, Vice President Marketing The main. "Our estimator allows to answer this question and provides tips that can help the process."

The retirement rebuilding estimator asks users for three pieces of data:

account balance on December 31, 2008
total annual contributions (employee and employer combined)
anticipated rate of return for the rebuilding period

Users receive an estimated rebuilding time based on an input rate of return for accounts from the study with similar balances and contribution rates "” and shows the potential difference increased contributions to an account can make.

"The estimator also serves as a reminder for plan participants to focus on what they can control," said Vandermillen. "Obviously they can't control the market, but they can help the rebuilding time by increasing contributions and ensuring their investment allocations fit their tolerance for risk."

The retirement rebuilding estimator is available to the public at www.principal.com/rebuild.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group^Â®(The Principal ^Â®)¹ is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $236.6 billion in assets under management²and serves some 18.8 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

About EBRI

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) is a private, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on health, savings, retirement and economic security issues. EBRI does not lobby and does not take policy positions. The EBRI analysis is published in the February 2009 EBRI Issue Brief, "The Impact of the Recent Financial Crisis on 401(k) Account Balances," online at www.ebri.org.

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¹ "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

² As of March 31, 2009

Principal Financial Group

Jaime Naig, 515-247-0798

naig.jaime@principal.com

or

Terri Hale, 515-283-8858

hale.terri@principal.com

Source: Principal Financial Group